Sunday, December 2, 2012

Fruit Brewing


Fruit brewing is a delicate process but is definitely worth exploring.

Aroma gives the most charm in fruit beers, and it's ideal to add it once primary fermentation is done or waning. The heavenly aromatics are just flighty so it will be diminished by CO2 in  vigorous fermentation. It's best to crush bigger fruits to let the sugars and flavor seep into the fermenting beer. It will begin another fermentation. During this time, rack to a carboy, and be patient since fruit sugars might ferment lazily. 

To avoid contamination, you can pasteurize the fruit through heating to 145 degrees F for half an hour or make use of campden tablets for fruit sanitizing.

The amount of fruit you need to enhance beer widely vary, so you should first have  a pilot test gallon. Consider the taste you want --forceful, average or subtle. This is just a trial-and-error process and depends on the fruit and beer style. You can also make a base 5-gallon batch and ferment one gallon of that on the side with a certain amount of fruit to measure the dosage.

New Brewery Launched in Redding, CA


Wildcard Brewing Company began when Jenny and Jeff Hansen brewed 2 beers as a wedding favor at a brewery located in San Luis Obispo, CA. A few years after, homebrew projects and burst beer bottle explosions followed.

This simple passion eventually became a career as the two went to England. Jenny did her “research” in different local pubs while Jeff enrolled in the University of Sunderland and studied brewing science.  When they went back in the U.S, Jeff chose the most competitive brewing place, the Pacific Northwest. Years later, the pair went to Redding, Calfornia, Jeff’s hometown  and launched their very own production brewery. They put across the bar four year round beers; Suicide Jack, California Cream Ale; Liar’s Dice, IPA; Double Down, Imperial Red Ale; Shot in the Dark, Oatmeal Porter.

Cheers to that!